NOTES FROM THE LIBRARY OF BABEL

Infinite Manifestations
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"The Library of Babel is the image of the universe, infinite and always started over again. Most of the books in this library are unintelligible, letters thrown together by chance or perversely repeated, but sometimes, in this labyrinth of letters, a reasonable line or sentence is found. Such are the laws of nature, tiny cases of regularity in a chaotic world."

André Maurois, Preface to "Labyrinths" by Jorge Luis Borges

The larger paintings in this series are 53.25 x 53.25 inches and made up of 64 squares, as is a chessboard, which is where it all began.

I had been working with the chessboard image for its geometry and its metaphor of war, and initially began by substituting the chess pieces with other symbols and metaphoric images of power, or magic, that would encounter each other, on the grid. Landscape and Language were the source ideas/elements behind the work.. and the series immediately broadened.. natural history, astronomy, Tibetan Buddhism, particle physics, cartography, the Mediterranean, etc..wherever I was traveling, whatever I was reading became part of the series..which continues today.

The smaller 39.5 x 39.5 inch paintings are made up of 36 squares. All works in this series are mixed medium with the majority of the panels having an encaustic base which is then etched, painted, or both.